Gurinder Chadha must be grinning from ear to ear!
While her last film BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM grossed over $ 32 million in the U.S. and over £ 11 million in U.K., her latest flick, BRIDE AND PREJUDICE, has more than lived up to the gargantuan expectations.
Although BRIDE AND PREJUDICE met with mixed reactions from the British press [it hasn't released in the U.S. yet], that didn't deter moviegoers from thronging the cinema halls in large numbers. Going by the opening weekend collections of Gurinder's latest film, the U.K. audiences have embraced and welcomed the 'Bride' with love and affection.
Any international project looks at recovering its investment from the Overseas markets, and BRIDE AND PREJUDICE is no exception.
Of course, it would be interesting to see how the U.S. market in particular and the European and Australian markets in general react to the movie and how profitable this venture eventually turns out to be.
In India, as expected, the English version of the film has fared better than the Hindi version. Getting more specific, the English version did start on a slow start at almost every centre, but the weekend collections have shown an upswing.
The multiplex crowd has loved the film and with no major opposition in the forthcoming week [till October 22], BRIDE AND PREJUDICE should have an uninterrupted positive run at most multiplexes, especially during the weekends. The glowing reviews [by most critics] could prove beneficial and sustain its position in the marketplace.
The Hindi version of BRIDE AND PREJUDICE wasn't well received comparatively. Although the Hindi version did fetch a better opening than the two Hindi openers this week, SHUKRIYA and WAJAHH, one definitely expected BALLE BALLE [the dubbed version of BRIDE AND PREJUDICE] to open much better, considering it stars Aishwarya Rai in the lead.
But the promos of the film were so unexciting and the publicity campaign equally uninteresting that the dull opening didn't come as a surprise.
The weekend was less kind to the other two Hindi films, SHUKRIYA and WAJAHH; both having met with a cold response from moviegoers. Frankly, I don't think the market conditions would really improve till October 22 [Dashehra week].
SHUKRIYA was meant to be a slow starter in any case. But a section of the industry was optimistic that it would gather momentum with word of mouth. But nothing of the sort happened. As for WAJAHH, the film ran out of gas on the opening day itself. And as days progressed, the business continued to erode at a significant rate.
